The present invention relates to a storage and retrieval system capable of horizontal and vertical movement components to operably engage relatively large planar sheets of material from a plurality of vertically spaced storage locations for delivery to one or more workstations, such as a laser cutting workstation.
Laser cutting workstations come in a variety of styles, sizes, and shapes from a wide variety of commercial manufacturers. Each laser machining cell is typically supplied with a stream of workpieces to be processed by a conveyor system. Typical conveyor systems for laser machining workstations can be seen in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,192,848; 5,310,396; 5,121,539; 4,735,539; and commercially available units are manufactured by Trumpf GmbH and Co, Ditzingen, of the Federal Republic of Germany.
Most of these configurations require complicated shuttle systems to move parts from vertical spaced storage locations to a ready position to be engaged by the conveyor system, since the conveyor system is incapable of operably engaging and removing the workpieces from the vertical storage locations directly.
It would be desirable in the present invention to provide a workpiece conveyor system capable of operably directly engaging relatively large planar workpieces within vertically extending spaced storage locations or racks, and for moving the workpieces or plates from the storage location to a workstation with a single conveyor system. It would be desirable in the present invention to eliminate the need for any intermediate shuttle or auxiliary movable elements to bring the workpieces into a ready position for attachment by the conveyor system. In other words, it would be desirable in the present invention to have the workpieces stored in a vertically extending spaced rack system where the storage location of each workpiece is a ready position that can be accessed directly by the conveyor system for operably engaging and moving the workpiece from the particular storage location to the workstation for processing.
A superstructure includes columns supporting an overhead runway system similar to a conventional bridge crane structure. The shelving is constructed in a manner that accommodates the carriage. The carriage arms are equally spaced to go in between the shelf supports. Once the carriage has been positioned into the shelf unit the carriage is then lowered down to the material. The suction cups that are attached to the carriage are then activated by a vacuum pump and attach themselves to the process sheets. The material being processed is raised, and then transferred to the laser bed. The trolley travels left or right to position the material over the laser bed. The sheet steel is then lowered onto the laser bed. A column on the trolley serves as a guide to raise and lower the carriage. The column stabilizes the carriage load; the column and carriage are offset from the trolley to evenly distribute the carried load. The carriage is raised and lowered by nylon and/or polyester straps that are rolled onto a drum. The carriage travels vertically to allow the hoist to access multiple shelves. Since the equipment travels on a runway system that is expandable, it is capable of supplying one or more lasers (or other processing machines).
The vacuum carriage goes into the shelves to retrieve sheets with other systems, sheets are transferred from the rack out to the carriage versus the carriage retrieving the sheets while in the rack. The carriage can access multiple shelves. The fixed shelves are spaced to accommodate the vacuum carriage. The carriage is raised and lowered via nylon, and/or polyester straps which are rolled onto a drum. Six (6) directions of travel, forward, backward, left, right, up and down are provided by the combination of the shuttle/trolley and carriage. A series of vacuum cups are used to hold the product (sheets) as it travels from the shelves to the laser bed. A remote control station controls the apparatus.
The runway is the superstructure that supports the bridge similar to a conventional overhead bridge crane superstructure. The bride is the structure that travels along the runway, and also supports the trolley. The trolley is the structure that travels horizontally along the bridge and supports the carriage. The carriage is the structure that travels vertically on the column of the trolley, which supports a series of vacuum cups. The vacuum cups are rubber type suction cups that adhere to any flat surface such as sheets of steel, glass, plastic, etc. The shelves are a series of sheet storage shelves where the raw material (sheets) are stored for processing.
Other applications of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art when the following description of the best mode contemplated for practicing the invention is read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.